Halo: Campaign Evolved from XBOX and Halo Studios remakes and reimagines the story campaign from the first game in the beloved series. Check out our Halo: Campaign Evolved review!
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Halo: Campaign Evolved from XBOX and Halo Studios remakes and reimagines the story campaign from the first game in the beloved series. It’s a faithful yet modernized take on Halo: Combat Evolved, which tells the story of Master Chief, who crash-lands on the titular world, Halo. The name certainly fits this planet since this is a rather mysterious ringworld. You’ll need to give it your all as you aid the remaining humans who are fighting against the evil Covenant forces. The good news? You won’t be doing this on your own, since you’ll be joined by artificial intelligence companion Cortana. The game takes place in the 26th Century, which is why a cybernetically enhanced super-soldier like Master Chief exists in this universe.
Halo: Combat Evolved, developed by Bungie, was released for the original Xbox console in North America in 2001, and later received a European release in 2002. This was followed ten years later by Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary in 2011 for the Xbox 360. We then got Halo: The Master Chief Collection in 2014 on the Xbox One. It’s now time to go back to the first game in the long-running franchise.
For this Rated M for Mature experience, you’ll get to work your way through the original missions in the game, with a game that has been rebuilt using the Unreal Engine 5, and that means we’re getting completely remaked HD visuals, new character, weapon, and vehicle models, new voice acting, remastered music, new motion capture, updated cutscenes, and reworked levels here and there for a better flow.
What else is new for Halo: Campaign Evolved on PlayStation 5? Along with the expanded lore, you’ll be able to use a variety of weapons taken from across the entire Halo series, hijack and take the Wraith tank for a spin, and battle new enemies. There’s also a trio of new missions in Operation: Meteorite, which you’ll be taking on as Master Chief fights alongside Sergeant Major Avery Johnson, which take place before the events from Halo: Combat Evolved. The game can be played on your own by using the console split-screen option, or online with up to four players.
You’ll be able to play this one by picking from one of four difficulty settings: Easy, Normal, Heroic, and Legendary. The Easy difficulty setting will allow you to easily take on any of the many enemies that the game will throw at you, since you’ll receive less damage, opponents will be less aggressive, there will be fewer enemies, and their overall health will be lower. The Normal difficulty setting offers the standard experience, tailored to challenge you without overwhelming you.
The Heroic difficulty setting bumps up the challenge by considerably boosting the damage you receive from attacks, making enemies aware of your every move, increasing their maximum health, all while also having more enemies coming at you at all times. As for the Legendary difficulty setting, it will take the challenge to 11! Enemies will deal a ton of damage, and they will be more than ready to destroy you if you so much as make a mistake. They will have a ton of health and will act as a horde that will mow you down with ease.
Since the game is played from a first-person perspective, you’ll be taking control of Master Chief by using the left analog stick, as you use the right analog stick to look around you as needed. Sprint by pressing in on the left analog stick. Jump by pressing the X button, and crouch by pressing the Circle button. Aim your weapon with the L2 button and shoot at enemies by pressing the R2 button. You can reload your weapon by pressing the Square button. Switch between weapons by pressing the Triangle button. Use equipment by pressing the R1 button and throw a grenade by pressing the L1 button.
Trophy-wise, the game features a full trophy list with a Platinum trophy for you to work on adding to your collection. It’s a long, long list split into 52 Bronze trophies, 3 Silver trophies, and a pair of Gold trophies. What will you need to do to add this shiny Platinum trophy to your collection? Along with the trophies that will pop as you complete each of the missions that the game has to offer, some of the objectives to complete include finishing the whole campaign in the Easy, Normal, Heroic, and Legendary difficulty settings, finding your first skull, locating all skulls in each of the missions, completing a remixed mission, doing so without dying, destroying 100 Grunt backpacks, hijaking 10 vehicles, dismembering 100 Flood parts, and killing 100 enemies with headshots, to name some examples.
Halo: Campaign Evolved remakes and reimagines the story campaign from the first game in the beloved series. It’s a faithful but modernized take on Halo: Combat Evolved, which tells the story of Master Chief, who ends up crash landing on the titular world known as Halo. The name certainly fits this planet since this is a rather mysterious ringworld. You’ll need to give it your all as you aid the remaining humans who are fighting against the evil Covenant forces. The good news? You won’t be doing this on your own, since you’ll be joined by artificial intelligence companion Cortana. The game takes place in the 26th Century, hence why a cybernetically enhanced super soldier like Master Chief exists in this universe.
It’s been a while since I played Halo: Combat Evolved. I got to play that one at a friend’s house way back in the day, since I had bought a PlayStation 2 console and she had bought an Xbox console so we could play as many games as possible during that console era… because I already owned a GameCube and later got a Dreamcast. The game’s revamped graphics and presentation definitely give it a new look and feel, thanks to the use of Unreal Engine 5.
On top of the option of using weapons from other entries in the Halo franchise, there are also going to be new enemies to battle, the option of taking a Wraith tank for a spin, and even Skulls that you can collect and activate as modifiers that will switch up how you address battles, helping to increase the replay value. There are 40+ Skulls for you to use as modifiers, which considerably expands on how you can take on each of the missions on offer. There’s even a new trio of levels under the Operation: Meteorite label, which take place before the events of Halo: Combat Evolved.
Halo: Campaign Evolved launches on PlayStation 5 on July 28 with a $49.99 price tag. You can also get Early Access today and start playing the game right away if you get the Halo: Campaign Evolved Premium Edition for $69.99. Along with being able to play the game right away, you’ll also gain the following:
Foundry Armory Pre-Order Pack
Alpha Halo Armory Pack
Digital Story & Art Collection
Disclaimer
This Halo: Campaign Evolved review is based on a PlayStation 5 copy provided by XBOX.
